Only 530 doctors served in Gujarat’s rural areas in five years

Ahmedabad: Out of more than 4,300 MBBS students who passed out from state-run medical colleges between 2009 and 2014 in Gujarat, only 530 served in government run-hospitals in rural areas for three years according to the bond they have to sign at the time of admission.

According to the data tabled in the Gujarat Assembly recently, the state government has collected more than Rs 15.68 crore from those MBBS students who have breached their bonds and opted out of this mandatory service in villages.

While replying to a question raised by Congress MLA Paresh Dhanani seeking details about such doctors, State Health Minister Nitin Patel in his written reply stated that there were total six medical colleges in the state as on December 2014.

A total of 4,341 MBBS students have passed out from these colleges between 2009 and 2014, said the reply.

Out of these qualified doctors, only 530 had served in state-run rural hospitals during that period of five years, revealed the data tabled in the Assembly.

According to the Gujarat government’s rules, MBBS students of state-run colleges have to sign a bond at the time of admission, giving a promise that they would serve for three years in rural areas, failing which they have to pay Rs 5 lakh.

The government said only 530 ‘bonded doctors’ out of the 4,341 have served their full term in rural hospitals, while others have paid the bond amount and moved elsewhere.

According to the data, only 96 out 757 served their full term in 2009-10; 105 out of 811 in 2010-11; 141 out of 951 in 2011-12; 109 out of 950 in 2012-13, and just 79 out of 872 in 2013-14 have served in rural areas.

Replying to another question about collection of bond money from doctors who have breached their bonds, the government has stated that more than Rs 15.68 crore has been collected from 1,412 doctors who have opted out of their mandatory service in rural areas.